Nichs suddenly forgot how to breathe when the old man mentioned that he already had a wife. So he didn''t mishear the old man''s words?


    Okay. His hearing had no problem, but maybe the old man mistook him for someone else.


    Nichs looked down at his body and raised his arms to check himself. Did he have such a generic appearance that someone could mistake him for another man?


    Well, he did have quite a typical ck hair and brown eyes. He was not easily distinguished like that guy, Duke Ariam Romanov who had white long hair.


    However, Nichs liked how he looked because he didn''t want to attract other people''s attention. He liked the fact that he could easily go undercover if he needed to, like today.


    The old man furrowed his brows when he saw Nichs''s response when he talked about his wife. The handsome man''s face looked... distraught. The old man wondered what happened.


    "What''s wrong? Has something bad happened to your wife? Is your rtionship okay? Where did the two of you move?" the old man decided to probe.


    All these questions made Nichs even more confused. Wife? Did he already have a wife, but he didn''t remember her? If that was true, why did his mother never say anything and instead forced him to get engaged to Karenia?


    "Wait, are you sure you''re not mistaking me for somebody else?" Nichs pointed at his own face, perhaps the old man had misrecognized him as another person.


    "No, I remember you and your wife very well because your marriage was very unusual. I can still remember it very clearly because I was the one who did the blessing ceremony at your wedding."


    Nichs fell silent. He was really surprised to hear what the old man had just said. After a few seconds of silence, Nichs asked for some time to speak, he felt the man would give him the information he was looking for.


    After finding a seat, Nichs tried to dig for information. He asked the old man to tell him the full details about his marriage as he was currently losing his memory. He didn''t remember his wife at all.


    "Oh, I am sorry to hear that, young man." The old man was very sympathetic to Nichs'' situation. "What happened?"


    "I, well, I got into an ident and I forgot a lot of things, including... my wife," Nichs replied in a low voice. "I am now trying to remember. This town came up in one of my findings, and now I am looking for more clues."


    "Oh... that is so unfortunate." The old man, who happened to be the vige head looked closely at Nichs. He turned to look at his son and told him to go home alone. "I will take this man to ckwoods and show him the ce he held his wedding six years ago. Maybe it can help him remember something."


    "Oh... that is a great idea," Nichs''s heart immediately pounded. He gripped the old man''s hands gratefully. "I really appreciate it. Thank you so much."


    "No problem," the man nodded. He told his son to take one horse and go home alone, while he took their wagon and showed Nichs the way to the forest. "Follow me."


    "Yes, thank you."


    They traveled through the vige''s small roads and went through a meadow, one small river, and finally reached the edge of a dark forest. The trees were tall and dense, and they could barely see what was inside the forest.


    Nichs looked around him and tried to remember the ces they passed by on the way to ckwoods. He felt some sense of familiarity but didn''t really feel the connection.


    They finally stopped right before the forest, in front of a small shabby hut that reminded Nichs of witch''s huts in fairy tales. What''s this ce? he wondered.


    "Is this it?" He turned to the vige head and asked him curiously.


    "Well, the two of you got married here about six years ago," said the old man with a nod. He got off his wagon and motioned Nichs to follow him. "It was a garden wedding, right outside of this hut. This ce looked much nicer back then."


    He added, "You bought all the flowers in the market and invited all the vigers. It was a beautiful and festive wedding. People stillmented that it was the best feast, with great food and the best wine, they have ever tasted."


    Nichs'' breath hitched slightly at the vige head''s exnation. He then looked closely at the shabby hut in front of him at this time.


    He wished he could remember that day. It seemed like he spared no expenses to make his wedding to his wife a memorable one.


    However, why did he hold his wedding here? In this shabby hut? He was a prince. Well... he was the crown prince six years ago. If he married a woman, she deserved much, much, much better than this.


    <o>,m He clenched his fist and his heart was filled with regret and guilt.</o>


    Maybe he didn''t tell her who he really was? So, he only gave her a simple wedding in this... in this shabby hut.


    The vige head also looked at the hut in front of him, remembering the time he gave his blessing to Nichs and Sophie.


    "You both looked so happy and in love," hemented. His face was filled with wonderful nostalgia. "You and your wife are such good looking couple. At that time you looked very much in love with each other."


    Nichs was only silent as he stared at the hut painfully. If the old man really didn''t mistake him for another man... that means, all his stories were true and Nichs did have a history with a woman.


    He had fallen in love with someone six years ago and married her. Maybe that''s the reason why he could never be attracted to any other woman? He had given his heart years ago to someone and he didn''t have any left to give to other people.


    Maybe that''s why he was not attracted to his fiancee, even though Karenina looked perfect for him.


    .


    .


    _______________________


    From Missrealitybites:


    SOON, Nichs would want to kick himself in the head for forgetting about his wife because... he was so adamant about getting rid of his lycanthropy to no avail.